Weekday Petco attendance down

Drawing large crowds to early-season weekday games always has been a problem for the Padres, even at Petco Park.

But the average attendance of 22,687 for the six weekday games of the 2008 season since the season opener is the lowest in the Padres' five seasons downtown.

The average is off 21 percent from a year ago and more than 25 percent from Petco's opening season of 2004. Season openers are not included.

Three of the 10 smallest crowds in Petco Park history, including the smallest turnout ever -- 18,714 for the Astros on April 2 -- have been among the six games this year played on days other than Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Thursday night's crowd of 25,984 was the first midweek crowd this season to surpass the lowest previous average of 25,480 in 2006.

Why midweek attendance has dropped so measurably is open to conjecture. Part of it could be the economy, or the unseasonably cold nights for several of this season's first six midweek games, or possible fan dissatisfaction with the team.

This year's early-season schedule of the Astros and Rockies also isn't as strong as the first four years when the Dodgers or the Giants (plus the Cubs in '06) were part of the mix.

It probably also doesn't help that the Padres are struggling to score runs.

Padres CEO Sandy Alderson did not return a phone call seeking his thoughts on the decline.

The Padres play 22 nonweekend home games before school gets out in mid-June, compared with 17 such dates last year.

Pitching change

Manager Bud Black said there were two reasons for deciding to have Greg Maddux and Chris Young change places in the rotation, with Maddux pitching Friday's series opener at Arizona and Young going Saturday.

The primary reason, though, appears to be to give Young one more day of rest, for a total of seven, since his most recent start Saturday in Los Angeles. Black said Young reported feeling "a little tight" in the back of his right elbow after that game. But Young since has thrown in the bullpen and said he was OK.

"We thought the extra day's rest would benefit him," Black said, adding that Young worked on a flaw in his delivery that the right-hander picked up watching video of his poor start against the Dodgers.

The switch also allows the Padres to keep Maddux on a regular schedule with four days' rest after throwing just 68 pitches in his victory Sunday against the Dodgers.

Lineup changes

With left-hander Jeff Francis starting for the Rockies, Black decided it was a good time to rest Adrian Gonzalez and Jim Edmonds and give rare starts to Tony Clark and Justin Huber.

Friday it could be Tadahito Iguchi's turn, with Callix Crabbe possibly getting his first major league start. Black also said he would like to get rookie catcher Colt Morton a start soon to rest Josh Bard. That likely would come in a game pitched by either Maddux, Randy Wolf or Justin Germano, Black said.

Given that in their next starts Wolf and Germano will be opposing Randy Johnson and Roy Oswalt, two pitchers Black probably wouldn't want to have Morton face, it's possible the rookie could catch Maddux tonight.

Notes

-- Players and coaches from USD's men's and women's basketball teams were honored before Thursday night's game. Gyno Pomare and Amanda Rego each threw a ceremonial first pitch.

-- The Padres' and Rockies' Triple-A affiliates were supposed to play Thursday in Colorado Springs, but the game was postponed because of snow. Portland won Wednesday's game 5-1 behind left-hander Cesar Ramos (2-1).